I am an evil giraffe. Who no longer blogs about politics.

Let us segue away from the disappointment which is contemporary American fiscal policy to something a good deal more enjoyable: to wit, kneeing the White House’s prospective Cabinet picks in their (metaphorical) groins. Latest up? Chuck Hagel, come ondown!

Outgoing Rep. Barney Frank Monday denounced the idea of former Sen. Chuck Hagel being considered for secretary of defense, arguing the Nebraska conservative has demonstrated a clear pattern of bigotry and and a track record of being “against fairness for LGBT people.”

Via Hot Air Headlines. There’s a rumor out there that Barney Frank’s being considered for a Senate caretaker gig for Massachusetts if Kerry gets the nod for SecState, and goodness knows that Frank (a man I quite cordially despise) isn’t shy about stating his opinion. However, this is still a pretty open break. I wonder how much longer Hagel will last? – Particularly, now that the aforementioned American fiscal disappointment is on the verge of going on the back burner…

[rank, hideous hypocrisy that is courting a lightning strike from its sheer, brazen effrontery] No-one under the age of 21 should be allowed to smoke marijuana. Period. Never, ever, ever, ever. [/rank, hideous hypocrisy that is courting a lightning strike from its sheer, brazen effrontery]*

It is exceedingly unlikely that this is ever going to pass, given that darn few politicians on both sides of the aisle wish to appear weak on what the libertarians call The War on Some Drugs.

I can think of several hundred things that I’d rather see the federal government do than go after pot smokers. That list includes ‘naming post offices.’

It’d be so worth it, from a vicious partisan point of view, to get this bill passed by Congress – just to hear the screams of outrage on campuses across the nation when President Obama vetoed it.

And… that’s pretty much it.

Moe Lane

*Really, it’s amazing how I still haven’t been struck by lightning. I wrote that last night.

A colleague of mine pointed out an interesting wrinkle in this stunning news that Rep. Barney Frank (D, MA-04) has actually loaned his campaign $200K – which is, by the way, not the sign of a confident campaign – to wit, that the next 200K that Barney Frank raises goes back to him. Not the campaign; him.

Ever want to buy a chairman of the House Financial Services Committee? Now’s your chance! And it’s a fire sale, folks: whether or not Barney keeps his job as Congressman in November, he’s not exactly expecting to be the Financial Chair after January. So if you want to make a deal, now’s the time…

Moe Lane

PS: Or you could donate to Sean Bielat. OK, so they’re not exactly trying to draw from the same financial sources.

Via DaTechGuy and Fleming and Hayes comes forty-five seconds of amusement. For those without video access, the video below shows Sean Bielat (Barney Frank’s challenger in MA-04) being (badly) heckled by an onlooker.

(H/T Instapundit) Come, I will conceal nothing from you: I respect Barney Frank’s political skills. I absolutely can’t stand what he uses those skills for, but I recognize that Rep. Frank has them, and that he knows how to use them effectively. To give just one example, Rep. Frank was about the only Democrat to make it through last year’s August health care meltdown without looking like either an abject coward, or a purblind fool*. You don’t have to like him – and I don’t – to recognize that.

Which is why Rep. Frank calling the Obama administration “dumb” for putting out an expectation of 8% unemployment if the stimulus passed is so interesting. First off, it’s a refreshing change from the previous narrative, which was that you were a dirty racist right-wing homophobe for taking the Romer-Bernstein graph seriously in the first place**. True, it turns out that people were idiots for taking the stimulus as a job saverseriously, but that’s a different issue. (more…)

So Rep. Barney Frank (D, MA) has told off progressives: he insists that they must only attempt to mount primary challenges to ‘conservative’ Democrats in districts where the Democrats have a lock on the seat anyway. If they don’t, well, apparently the response then is to suffer – or perhaps move: Rep. Frank didn’t say so, but it seems a logical enough alternative. No, really, that’s what he said… while couching it in terms of going out in November and voting for the Democrats that they hate anyway:

“I said don’t defeat conservative Democrats in November . . . the place to do that is in the primary,” Frank said Friday in an interview. But Frank added his caveat that such a primary challenge should only come in districts where a more liberal candidate would win in November.

Now, putting aside the fact that this effectively restricts liberals to their current urban reservationsghettos enclaves (a seat with a ‘conservative’ Democrat in it is pretty much the definition of ‘at risk’ these days, and they won’t get less risky because of a successful primary challenge from the Left), the amazing thing about this statement is not that a Democratic, supposedly liberal politician is making it, or not even that he’s making it in public. It’s that Rep. Frank felt perfectly comfortable telling that to the faces of a bunch of progressive activists. It is fascinating to witness the sheer contempt that the Democratic party has towards its own base; for contrast, imagine what would happen if a conservative politician went to CPAC or the RedState Gathering to tell the activists found there that they must only primary challenge moderate Republican incumbents in districts where the GOP was going to win anyway. Let me put it this way: the response would involve the words “rip,” “head,” “defecate,” and “neck.*” (more…)

I’m a Birther critic in good standing but I dig Tom Maguire’s reply to Frank: Djou should authorize Hawaii to release his long-form birth certificate, just to show how quickly and painlessly it can be done. Not in a million years will that happen — there’s no sense in gratuitously antagonizing Obama fans back in his home district, where he’ll have have a tough time getting reelected even under favorable circumstances — but I like the idea of Djou ambushing Frank during some press availability in the Capitol hallway. Just toss him the folder, hold up a finger, and say, “One week.”

I never would have suggested that Djou do this, but if Barney Frank feels the need to spout off it seems a shame to not take advantage of it.

By two ophthalmologists, apparently. That’s pretty much the story: he was on a flight with his partner, the two ophthalmologists decided to voice their disappointment with Frank’s error in government, Frank’s partner said something rude about the ophthalmologists’ gender, and it all went downhill from there. Personally, I’m with Glenn Reynolds on this: if Barney Frank doesn’t want to hear unflattering things said in public about his legislative technique, Barney Frank is welcome to start driving more. And if he feels that dealing with this is beneath his dignity as House Finance Services chair, well, the way things are going that won’t be an issue anyway, starting next January.

Moe Lane

PS: I’d like to note for the record that the participants of only one side of this argument have actually ever worked for a living, and it ain’t the ones who were in favor of the Democrats’ health care debacle.

The scene above of Republican Congressmen recognizing the will of the Sovereign People of the United States absolutely infuriated Rep. Barney Frank, in that special blustering whiny way that he has. I get the impression that the poor fellow is somewhat unused to actual populism. And is also perhaps perturbed at the way that actual populism makes the ersatz kind that his party peddles look, well, chintzy…

Moe Lane

PS: Reconsider that vote, Rep. Frank. Because if you manage to push this debacle across the finish line tonight, you’ll be looking back fondly on this afternoon as being the last quiet, carefree day of the 111th Congress.